Bottle carrier



July 28, 1959 w. M. ALTENBURG 2,896,814

BOTTLE CARRIER 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 12, 1957 L k BY REL, 1C3

' ATTORNEY July 28, 1959 Filed Dec. 12 1957 w. M. ALTENBURG 2,896,814

BOTTLE CARRIER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR BY Kmu. QQS

ATTORNEY BOTTLE CARRIER William M. Altenburg, South Windham, Maine,assignor to Diamond Gardner Corporation, a corporation of DelawareApplication December 12, 1957, Serial No. 702,351

2 Claims. (Cl. 220-116) This invention relates to package carriers, andmore particularly to an inexpensive integral one-piece paper pulp moldedcarrier for a plurality of containers having upwardly extending necks.

Prior to the instant invention, it has been found de sirable to providecarriers for bottles or cans ofrsoft drinks and similar liquids. Thishas been done in order to enable a purchaser to easily carry a number ofsuch bottles or cans with him with a minimum of danger of breakage ofthe bottle or can by it being inadvertently dropped. The prior artcarriers have often taken the form of a folded chip board device whichis usually secured together by an adhesive and/or staples. Such devicesrequired die cutting, folding, gluing, or stapling operations, all ofwhich are inherently expensive. Attempts of the prior art to to make thecarrier less expensive by avoiding or eliminating some the above-notedoperations have resulted only in relatively weak carriers whichsometimes either tore while being carried or else permitted a bottle totopple out of them, and thus to become broken.

It is further to be noted that the cans or bottles which customarilyhave been used for the packaging of soft drinks and the like have eitherglued, printed or lithographed thereon a display denoting the companywhich manufactured the drink or else, and sometimes in addition, thetype of drink contained in the bottle or can. Prior art carriers,however, have generally been formed in a. widely used type, with bottlereceiving pockets which conceal to a large measure the advertisement ofthe side of the bottle or can. In order to overcome this disadvantage,such prior art bottle carriers have been printed with the company name,etc. so that the cost was increased for this reason also.

Other types of bottle and can carriers have been known which support thebottles or cans from the neck thereof, but these known carriers have notprovided any structure which would separate the bottles and cans andprevent them from hitting against each other. Thus, these prior artcarriers have not only been expensive but have also the additionalobjectional feature of not being protective of the bottle or can beingcarried.

It is to be further noted that the prior art bottle carriers havegenerally been manufactured only in such size as to carry six bottles,generally two rows of three bottles each. The handle extended frombetween the two rows, so that the package balanced. However, the priorart has generally failed to provide a carrier for only three bottles;this is of particular importance in view of the fact that the largersizes of soft drink bottles are often sold in a price grouping of threeunits for a particular amount.

It is to be further noted that prior art bottle carriers have usuallybeen put into operation at the bottling plant where the beverage bottleis filled with liquid. However, it is desirable to have the emptybeverage bottle shipped from the bottle manufacturer to the bottlingplant already encased in the carrier in which it will be sold to theretail customer. My new bottle carrier is constructed in novel fashionso that it can meet the empty beverage bottle United States Patent liceat the bottle manufacturing plant and help to protect it during shipmentto the bottling plant. Furthermore, my new bottle carrier is soconstructed that the bottle can be filled without removing it from thecarrier. My new carrier holds a single line of beverage bottles and 00-operates in novel manner with most filling machines in operation todayas these filling machines generally operate on a single line of bottles,whereas, most prior art carriers could not pass through a bottlingmachine designed for single line operation.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a carrier for asingle row of beverage bottles.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a bottle orcan carrier which can be manufactured on easily fabricated dies byconventional molded pulp technique.

Another object of the present invention is the provision of a bottlecarrier which can be manufactured at a very low unit cost.

Yet another object of the present invention is to pro vide a bottlecarrier in which the bottles can be inserted with a minimum of time andeffort.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a bottle carrierin which the bottles are protected from bumping against one another orfrom bumping against bottles in adjacent carriers during handling orduring shipment.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a bottle orcan carrier which may be handled and carried easily.

Still another object of the present invention is the provision of abottle carrier which requires. no assembly operation at the point ofuse, and which may be readily nested for shipment from the point ofmanufacture to the bottling works or wherever the bottles will beinserted into the carrier.

A still further object of the present invention is the provision of abottle or can carrier in which the label of the bottle or can is visiblewhen the bottles or cans are positioned in the carrier.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a carrierfor a single row of beverage bottles which carrier can meet the bottlesat the bottle manufacturing plant and protect them during shipment tothe point of filling with a beverage.

It is a (further object of this invention to provide a single rowcarrier for beverage bottles so that the bottles can be sent through asingle row filling machine without any'or without extensive modificationof the filling machine and without removing the empty bottles from thebottle carrier prior to filling.

Other objects and the nature and advantages of the instant inventionwill be apparent from the following description taken in conjunctionwith the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a carrier in accordance with the presentinvention, with three bottles positioned therein;

Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the carrier of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a rear elevation of the carrier of Fig. 1 with the sectionthereof in extended position;

Fig. 4 is a side view showing how two of the carriers of the presentinvention can be used to carry six bottles;

Fig. 5 is a side view showing how the carrier of the present inventioncan be used to protect the bottles during shipment;

Fig. 6 is a side view of a plurality of carriers in accordance with thepresent invention in nested position;

Fig. 7 is a sectional view taken on line 77 of Fig. 6;

Fig. 8 is a cross-sectional view on the line 8-8 of Fig. 2.; and

Fig. 9 is a cross-section on the line 9-9 of Fig. 2.

Referring now to the drawings, wherein like reference numerals are usedto designate like or corresponding parts throughout the several views,there is shown in Fig. 1 a carrier -for necked bottles or cans having; ahandle section 11 with finger holes 12 and '13 therein. Adjacent handle11 and denoted therefrom by a fold line 14 is a first neck engagingsection 15 having neck receiving openings 16, 17 and 18. Adjacent toneck engaging section 15, and separated therefrom by a fold line 19 is asecond neck engaging section 21 having corresponding neck receivingopenings 22, 23 and 24 (Fig. 3). Adjacent the neck engaging section 21and separated therefrom by a fold line 26 is a body section 27. Bodysection 27 has a generally planar base 28 which has a floor 29 extendingat generally right angles thereto. A plurality of separator members 31,32, 33 and 34 are molded integrally with the base 28 of body section 27,and extend generally perpendicularly thereto, as well as perpendicularlyto the bottle-supporting floor 29. As may be seen from Figs. 1, 2 and 3,the separator members 31, 32, 33 and 34 have cylindrical walls whichmerge generally into the plane of the base 28.

It will be readily understood by those skilled in the art that thebottle carrier 10 of the present invention is readily and inexpensivelymolded on an open-faced die by conventional molded pulp technique, andwhen molded has the appearance shown in Fig. 3. For shipping purposes,such as from the point of manufacture to a bottling plant, the carriers10 are nested to reduce their bulk. Fig. 6 illustrates a stack of nestedcarriers 10 as they would appear ready for shipment to a bottling plant.

Atthe bottling plant, the carriers 10 are folded on the fold lines 14,19 and 26 so as to have, generally, the shape shown in Fig. l. Thebottles or cans are then inserted into the carrier 10 so that thepackage has the appearance shown in Fig. 1. For shipment from thebottling plant, a plurality of the carriers 10, with their bottles orcans inserted therein, are placed in the relationship shown in Fig. 5.As will be noted, each of the bottles is protected from engaging any ofthe other bottles by a layer of molded pulp, the base 28, thisconstituting a cushioning wall.

At the retail outlet, the purchaser may carry either one or two of thecarriers 10 with its bottles with great facility, Fig. 4 illustratinghow readily two of the carriers may be handled. It is to be noted inthis view that the bottles are protected from bumping against eachother, that the bottle labels are not concealed by the carrier(similarly with Fig. l) and that the neck engaging sections 15 and 21tend to open up due to the Weight of the bottles supported by the floor29. This results in a clamping action by the neck engaging sections 15and 21 so that the necks of the bottles or cans are securely held andthe bottles or cans are prevented from slipping out of the carriers 10.I

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes maybe made without departing from the spirit of the invention and thereforethe invention is not limited to what is shown in the drawings anddescribed in the specification but only as indicated in the appendedclaims.

What is claimed is:

1. An integral one piece molded pulp carrier having a plurality ofnecked bottles therein and comprising a body section adapted when in useto be generally vertically extending and having an upper margin, ahandle section'upwardly of said body section, said handle section havinga lower margin, a pair of neck engaging sections integrally connectedalong a generally horizontal fold line, 'one of said neck engagingsections being integrally joined to the lower margin of said handlesection along a second fold line and the other of said neck engagingsections being integrally joined to the upper margin of said bodysection along a third fold line, said neck engaging sectionsconstituting the sole connection between said handle section and saidbody section and extending and converging outwardly of the plane. ofsaid' body section and handle section and having spaced and alignedholes therein, the necked bottles having the necks thereof extendingthrough said holes, whereby when said handle section is lifted, theangle between said neck engaging sections will increase .to therebyclamp the necks of the bottles.

2. The carrier of claim 1, said body section comprising a floorextending outwardly of the plane thereof and underlying said neckengaging sections to support and cushion the bottles in said carrier.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATESPATENTS2,020,454 Bisbee et al Nov; 12, 1935 2,089,297 Read et a1. Aug. 10, 19372,325,955 Higgins Aug. 3, 1943 2,426,689 Hilton Sept. 2, 1947 as w

